The tyranist's thoughts
And a bad series gets worse. That pretty much sums up my feelings about this movie. If that was all you needed to know you should probably move on. Unless you're interested in the gore. What am I saying? You wouldn't be reading this if you weren't interested.
So we basically discard all the previous movies and their rules (this is actually standard practice in this series) and pick up in the 70's where a pimp and one of his lackeys are breaking in to a subterranean cavern conveniently located near a subway to steal the leprechaun's gold. Yes, the same leprechaun. Well, they succeed. Flash forward to the present where a group of struggling rappers are trying their hardest using a "positive" message. The pimp is now a very successful rapper who they happen to meet up with. One thing leads to another and they steal the magic flute that was giving the pimp his power. Now they are suddenly good (although you won't be able to tell it by listening to them) and the leprechaun and the rapper are independently after them. People die (off camera). Then comes the lamest ending yet.
I have some theories about how this movie got made. All of them negative. There is almost no gore, absolutely no onscreen violence, no nudity, and generally none of the things that make horror movies worth watching, like scares. There is an unusual amount of profanity. Maybe that is why it was rated R. Seriously, after watching it, I felt like it was made for cable and never aired there.
Okay, since you begged, here is my best theory about how this movie got made. Trimark was looking around for something to do for the next entry in their biggest franchise (Leprechaun, idiot). Simultaneously, a couple of young screenwrights came up with an urban warfare/black life/rapper movie that they thought had some serious potential. They shopped it around and word came back that no one was interested because there were too many of those already and this one wasn't that good anyway. Then Trimark stepped in. They picked up the script on the condition that they could make their little leprechaun movie out of it. Glad to get any kind of attention the young screenwrights agreed. So Trimark hands it over to the house writers and this piece of shit is turned out.
The problem is that I could really see the underlying story. It came out pretty clearly and to tell you the truth, even though it wasn't that good, it was probably better without the leprechaun in it.
So if you're being a completist (which, unfortunately, I am) check it out, but be warned. It is easily the worst entry in the series. Perhaps this one will make them stop.